In an interview with The Seattle Times, Gates said that the decision was made at an April 5, 1994, executive retreat.

"I said, hey, we're going to get it (the browser) integrated into the operating system," Gates told the newspaper.

The next day Gates announced publicly that the company's forthcoming Windows 95 operating system would include Internet technologies.

The dates are important, because state and government antitrust regulators who filed suit against Microsoft in May charge that Microsoft included the Internet Explorer browser with Windows chiefly in an effort to crush competition from rival Netscape Communications Corp. But Netscape was not even incorporated until April 7, 1994, and Gates said he never heard of the company until January1995.

Gates has been ordered to give two days of pretrial testimony to government lawyers in preparation for a federal trial scheduled to begin September 8. But that date could slip as Microsoft appeals an order that the depositions of Gates and other Microsoft executives be opened to the press and public.